By Jake Wilson
As a child in the 1990s, Lea Fehner travelled across France with her parents, leading members of a theatre troupe called L'Agit. "It was a wild life, very lively, with wild people," says Fehner.
That life was the inspiration for her second feature as a film director, The Ogres.
Les Ogres follows the fortunes of a travelling theatre troupe in France.
Fehner never performed on stage herself, but did take part in one of the troupe's early productions: a kind of play within a play, set behind the scenes at a circus. "When the spectators would go by, we would jump on them and act as wild animals."
This is Fehner's second feature, following her 2009 debut Silent Voice, set in the visiting room of a prison. When she started her career as an adult, did she think of going into theatre? Not at all, she says. "I sort of liked the movies, they were calmer."
Adele Haenel as Mona and Marc Barbe as M. Deloyal, the ringmaster.
You couldn't call The Ogres calm. It's another behind-the-scenes story, following the adventures of an outdoor theatre troupe very similar to the one Fehner grew up in, as they tour the provinces with a circus adaptation of Chekhov's The Bear.
The film leaves no doubt the director admires the values of this close-knit bohemian "family": the commitment to art and freedom, the indifference to social norms.
But as the title implies, she also views her characters as monsters of a sort. There are constant brawls, frequently messy sexual situations, and a constant sense of chaos that spills between the personal and the professional.
At times it seems the actors are ad-libbing in front of the camera, but although there was a period of what Fehner calls "group work" on the script before the shoot, the dialogue was mostly written in advance.
Director Lea Fehner, who cast her own family in her second feature film.
The film is the product of her collaboration with screenwriter Catherine Paille, who provided an outsider's perspective on the material. "It was interesting to see that what was invented by her, by Catherine, actually matched reality," Fehner says.
Later on, she worked on rewrites with actress and filmmaker Brigitte Sy, best-known for her collaborations with ex-husband Philippe Garrel ― a form of cinema very different from her own, Fehner says, but that similarly blurs the distinction between fiction and life.
Fehner's parents and sister have major roles in The Ogres, playing characters with their own names. Casting the other parts, Fehner sought out actors with some of the same qualities as the roles they were to play. "They're very explosive, eccentric; they talk loudly."
But the film isn't meant as a documentary. "What I tried to do is to follow the lyrical life of the characters," she says. "In the story there are many childhood memories. But in the childhood memory you also have lots of fantasy."
Fehner's father Francois plays the troupe leader, a largely unsympathetic character. Casting her father was a calculated risk, aimed at injecting some real-life drama into the filmmaking situation.
"It's true there was a big flow of emotions and love, but I wanted this danger," she says.
"Sometimes it was an explosive atmosphere, sometimes it's quite tense ... but because of the fact that all the actors were aware of this tension, this risk, they were all very sympathetic and easygoing."
Given the real-life Francois' willingness to mix life and art, did he see the role as a reflection of himself, or as an essentially fictional creation?
"You mean, was he happy to be shown as a domestic tyrant?" Fehner says. "Well, the character changed a little. When we did the editing, there were some parts that were cut, parts that were actually filled with tenderness. I do lament that these parts were cut.
Jake Wilson travelled to France courtesy of the Alliance Francaise. The Ogres is screening nationally at the Alliance Francaise French Film Festival, March 7-30, affrenchfilmfestival.org.
A CERTAIN REGARD
This year's festival includes the work of many promising directors not yet well-known internationally.
Keeper
Director: Guillaume Senez
A well-observed teen movie about an aspiring footballer (Kacey Mottet-Klein) faced with the prospect of becoming a father.
Heal the Living
Director: Katell Quillevere's
An emotionally potent film that uses a heart transplant to trace the unknowing connections between characters from many walks of life.
A Bun in the Oven
Director: Nadege Loiseau's
A comedy about an unexpected pregnancy that treats its working-class characters as people rather than exotics viewed from afar.